Reamstown AA Reds finish third overall

Reamstown Reds’ shortstop Rodney Martzall (left) stretches to get the force out at second during Sunday’s
match-up vs. the Dodgers.

The Reamstown Athletic Association Reds of the Berks County Senior Baseball League completed their regular season schedule on Saturday with a 7-6 loss to the Savage 61 Dodgers. Despite the loss, the Reds ended up at 10-6 for the year, good enough for third place four games out of first, their highest finish in a few years.

For the Reds, the game was marred by an uncharacteristically large number of mistakes in the field and on the basepaths. While starter Todd Adair gave up seven runs in the game, only two were earned, as Reamstown finished the game with seven errors.

The Dodgers took the early lead, scoring once in the first and twice in the third, but the Reds got two back in their half of the third, when Rod Martzall got a two-run, two-out hit to score Troy Boyer and Phil Wiest who had both walked.

The Dodgers made the score 4-2 in the top of the fifth with one run, but the Reds tied the score in the bottom of the inning, as Wiest led off with a walk and was followed by Turk Keith who doubled. Wiest scored after Martzall’s base hit, and Keith came in on Adair’s fly ball to center.

From there, the game see-sawed as the teams traded the lead in the sixth and seventh.

The Dodgers went up by one in the top of the sixth, but Reamstown came right back with two runs of their own to take the lead in the bottom. Mike Sensenig led off with a lined single to left, and Randy Martin walked with one out. Wiest then continued his big day with a double that plated Sensenig and moved Martin to third. Martin scored from third on a botched rundown play by the Dodgers and the Reds took a 6-5 lead.

Unfortunately for the Reds, the Dodgers re-took the lead with their own two unearned runs in the seventh. The Reds had chances to score in the eighth and ninth, but some baserunning mistakes took them out of the innings. Their best chance was in the ninth, when they loaded the bases with Turk’s leadoff single to center and Martzall and Adair’s bunt base hits. Steve Young then flew out to center and the runner on third was thrown out trying to score. The final out was recorded when the runner on first was picked off by the catcher after the first pitch to the next batter.

As several Reamstown players stated, the error-plagued loss was disappointing, especially as the team prepares for the playoffs next week, but they also noted that the Reds are the host for next week’s playoffs.

The double-elimination championship tournament will be played at Cocalico High School over the next two weekends, starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The Reds begin their postseason play with a matchup against the sixth-place Orioles at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday on the Cocalico varsity baseball field.